Team Europe - EU #7_1

Team Leader:	Manfred Wolf, DJ5MW
Other callsigns:	n/a
Country:	Germany
Age (WRTC 2018):	47
Previous WRTC experience:	Competitor: 2000, 2014
Occupation:	Deutsche Post DHL
I entered the ham radio world in 1987 at the age of 15 and soon was infected by the DX and Contest virus (former call DL2MEH). First DXpeditions were made to Liechtenstein, HB0, which is very close to my QTH and to Andorra as C30EHA. Also CQWW expeditions to Vienna, activating 4U1VIC were fun and I’ve ended up operating 4 times from there with various groups. But the highlight was obviously participating 3 times from CN8WW in 1999 and 2000 in CQWW. My preferred mode is CW, but you can also hear me on SSB. Since 2002 I was able to build our club station on a mountain top QTH in southern Germany and was able to do many successful Single-op entries from there. Despite having no professional technical background I still enjoy building antennas and try to improve the station step by step.

Team Mate:	Stefan von Baltz, DL1IAO
Other callsigns:	SA3CWW, SM9A
Country:	Germany
Age (WRTC 2018):	43
Previous WRTC experience:	Competitor: 1996, 2000, 2002, 2014
Occupation:	Medical doctor - ophthalmologist
I received my first license in 1990 at age 14. I'm thankful to my dad Ralph DJ1DB who programmed a CW-trainer on our home computer and helped to get me on the air while still in school. Later, Roland DK3GI invited me to my first ever multi-op and showed me how to really operate a contest. When I was 21 he selected me as a teammate for WRTC 1996 and again in 2002. As a student I teamed up with Hannes DK1NO at his phenomenal hilltop-QTH and learned a lot about antennas and the low bands. I have been contesting together with Manfred DJ5MW from early on and we still try to operate the IARU Region-1 CW Field Day regularly every year. I hold SA3CWW and SM9A as callsigns in Sweden where my YL and I work as ophthalmologists since 2016. I got introduced into ophthalmology by Alex W2OX/V47KP which is one of many examples how contesting and the resulting international friendships have influenced my life. Bronze medal in 2014 has been our best WRTC result so far and we are looking forward to represent our home country at WRTC 2018 in Germany!